Farewell, Sarah Jane
The entire Doctor Who fan world is grieving today because Lis Sladen has passed away, leaving generations of Doctor Who fans in mourning. I have lost a friend, even if I never met her in person.
Way back in the mid-seventies, I came home from school and turned on Captain Chesapeake, and instead of the same old cartoons, there was instead a show about a blue box that could go anywhere in time and space, and in it there was a man called The Doctor. He traveled the universe with his friends, and he fought monsters and injustice and fear and madness. He saved not just our world, countless times, but dozens of alien planets, space stations, future freighters, and lonely outposts. And though the first episode I saw scared the pants off me, I would later find a lifelong friend and cultural touchstone in the adventures of the Doctor.
The Doctor was never alone; like Puff the Magic Dragon, he was nothing without his friends, because he needed someone to show off to and be brave for and to care about when he got too angry or full of himself. As the man who got his wings said, "no man is a failure who has friends" -- and the Doctor had countless friends over the years.
And the very first of these wonderful friends that I ever encountered was Sarah Jane Smith, played by the lovely Elisabeth Sladen over an incredible four decades of amazing television. My introduction to Sarah Jane came as she opened the cupboard door on an ark in space, and discovered a monstrous dead wasp -- and though she spent a lot of time terrified, with a little encouragement from the Doctor she always found the strength to go on.
By the time the Doctor accidentally dropped her off in Aberdeen rather than East Croyden, everyone assumed that, like so many companions, we'd never see Sarah Jane Smith again. But we did -- first in a spin-off with K-9 that nearly led to a series, and then in the Five Doctors special.
And then time passed, and the show faded, and then came back in a big way. And before long, a whole new generation of fans who'd only really known one companion discovered, along with Rose Tyler, that the Doctor has taken many friends for a trip in his magical blue box. The episode wasn't just nostalgia, or the new series explicitly embracing the old -- it was about how traveling with the Doctor can bring out the best in people, and inspire them to make the world a better place on their own. And the new fans embraced this lovely, warm, spunky lady, while the older fans marveled at the actress who'd barely aged a month in 30 years. To new fans, she was like an awesomely cool auntie, but for many older fans, she'd been our first crush -- one of several reasons why she consistently polled among the highest of all companions. Seeing her again brought up the same feelings in us as it did the Doctor. We were all, I think, still hopelessly in love with Sarah Jane, or at least awfully fond of her.
So much so that, decades after they'd first tried to spin her off, Sarah Jane Smith got her own show at last, gaining a son and friends and a mission -- and still fighting the good fight, turning what she learned from the Doctor into a template for her adventuresome life. The show was successful -- four series! -- and Sarah Jane would appear at least twice more on Doctor Who (and the Doctor would appear at least twice more on her show). Sarah Jane, Girl Reporter in the womens-lib-era 1970s, grew up and made being a mom who fights aliens seem pretty cool.
It says a lot about an actress to be able to step back effortlessly into a role she first played as a 20-something, and give it not just charm and spunk, but the warmth and the fun, and the sense of loss and love and longing that Lis brought to Sarah Jane. I know that the mark she has left on my life is as indelible as the autograph I never got the chance to get.
Farewell, Sarah Jane, and thanks, Lis, for an entire lifetime of adventure.
Way back in the mid-seventies, I came home from school and turned on Captain Chesapeake, and instead of the same old cartoons, there was instead a show about a blue box that could go anywhere in time and space, and in it there was a man called The Doctor. He traveled the universe with his friends, and he fought monsters and injustice and fear and madness. He saved not just our world, countless times, but dozens of alien planets, space stations, future freighters, and lonely outposts. And though the first episode I saw scared the pants off me, I would later find a lifelong friend and cultural touchstone in the adventures of the Doctor.
The Doctor was never alone; like Puff the Magic Dragon, he was nothing without his friends, because he needed someone to show off to and be brave for and to care about when he got too angry or full of himself. As the man who got his wings said, "no man is a failure who has friends" -- and the Doctor had countless friends over the years.
And the very first of these wonderful friends that I ever encountered was Sarah Jane Smith, played by the lovely Elisabeth Sladen over an incredible four decades of amazing television. My introduction to Sarah Jane came as she opened the cupboard door on an ark in space, and discovered a monstrous dead wasp -- and though she spent a lot of time terrified, with a little encouragement from the Doctor she always found the strength to go on.
By the time the Doctor accidentally dropped her off in Aberdeen rather than East Croyden, everyone assumed that, like so many companions, we'd never see Sarah Jane Smith again. But we did -- first in a spin-off with K-9 that nearly led to a series, and then in the Five Doctors special.
And then time passed, and the show faded, and then came back in a big way. And before long, a whole new generation of fans who'd only really known one companion discovered, along with Rose Tyler, that the Doctor has taken many friends for a trip in his magical blue box. The episode wasn't just nostalgia, or the new series explicitly embracing the old -- it was about how traveling with the Doctor can bring out the best in people, and inspire them to make the world a better place on their own. And the new fans embraced this lovely, warm, spunky lady, while the older fans marveled at the actress who'd barely aged a month in 30 years. To new fans, she was like an awesomely cool auntie, but for many older fans, she'd been our first crush -- one of several reasons why she consistently polled among the highest of all companions. Seeing her again brought up the same feelings in us as it did the Doctor. We were all, I think, still hopelessly in love with Sarah Jane, or at least awfully fond of her.
So much so that, decades after they'd first tried to spin her off, Sarah Jane Smith got her own show at last, gaining a son and friends and a mission -- and still fighting the good fight, turning what she learned from the Doctor into a template for her adventuresome life. The show was successful -- four series! -- and Sarah Jane would appear at least twice more on Doctor Who (and the Doctor would appear at least twice more on her show). Sarah Jane, Girl Reporter in the womens-lib-era 1970s, grew up and made being a mom who fights aliens seem pretty cool.
It says a lot about an actress to be able to step back effortlessly into a role she first played as a 20-something, and give it not just charm and spunk, but the warmth and the fun, and the sense of loss and love and longing that Lis brought to Sarah Jane. I know that the mark she has left on my life is as indelible as the autograph I never got the chance to get.
Farewell, Sarah Jane, and thanks, Lis, for an entire lifetime of adventure.